1989 Bowman Baseball Cards – 13 Most Valuable

If nothing else, 1989 Bowman baseball cards taught collectors a tiny life lesson.

I mean …

You ever want something so bad that you just know your life will change forever once you get it?

And then, once you do get it … meh?

Yeah, me, too.

And that’s pretty much what happened for collectors with 1989 Bowman baseball cards, too.

For years, we’d been clamoring for one of the major manufacturers to issue a set focusing on the player image and eschewing massive design elements.

At least some of us begged for a return to a more classic look, like we saw in those old 1950s Topps — or, *gasp* Bowman — cards.

Well, careful what you ask for, Skippy.

Because, as the hobby was booming and ready to boom more, Topps opened their vault in 1989 and dusted off the Bowman brand that they bought out in 1956.

And then they brought us a set with huge, clear images that were beautiful …

… but were also too big. As in oversize.

And that still had the soft old Topps cardstock.

And that seemed to exist in far larger quantities than anyone wanted.

*sigh*

Oh well … so 1989 Bowman was not a big hit. Never has been.

But it’s still chock full of superstars and big-name rookies, and that means there are some valuable cards tucked away in the albatross that no one knows how to store.

What follows, then, is a list of the 13 most valuable 1989 Bowman baseball cards as determined by actual eBay sales of PSA 10 graded copies of the cards in question.

(Note that Topps also issued a Tiffany parallel version of 1989 Bowman baseball cards, available only through hobby dealers and limited to 6000 factory sets. Tiffany versions of the single cards in PSA 10 generally sell for 5-25 times the prices listed for the base, non-glossy versions listed below.)

Let’s dig in!

(Note: The sections below contain affiliate links to eBay and Amazon listings for the cards being discussed.)

1989 Bowman Ken Griffey Jr. Rookie Card (#220)

Everybody knows that Ken Griffey, Jr., rookie cards are just about the best thing going from the Junk Wax Era.

Heck, some might even say they’re the only things going from the Junk Wax Era (though plenty of Phil Plantier and Kevin Maas collectors would argue that point).

But when you think about Junior RCs, what comes to mind?

1989 Upper Deck #1, right?

Fleer and Donruss cards from the same year … maybe. Possibly a Topps Traded card here or there.

The truth is, though, that the 1989 Bowman Griffey is every bit as much a rookie card as the rest of those, and more so than some. Like the Upper Deck beauty, after all, the Bowman debut cardboard for Griffey comes in a debut for a brand, too (although technically a revival in this case).

Of course, 1989 Bowman is not Upper Deck.

While the Bowman revamp is clean and beautiful, its funky size, mushy cardstock, and perceived lack of scarcity have blunted its popularity over the years.

Still, a Griffey rookie is a Griffey rookie, Griffey is the king of 1989 Bowman baseball cards, and condition issues have limited the population of PSA 10s to fewer than 2300 copies.

As such, you can expect to pay a handsome sum for a “perfect” copy.

Value: $225-250

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1989 Bowman Ken Griffey Father and Son (#259)

Quick!

Which 1989 set features two Ken Griffey Jr. rookie cards?

Since you’re reading an article about 1989 Bowman, you might figure that 1989 Bowman would be a pretty safe guess.

And you’d be right.

Sort of, at least.

There on card #259, Bowman (via Topps) treated collectors to a big image of Ken Griffey Sr. glaring over his right shoulder at a smaller, hands-on-knees Junior.

All inside a very-80s CRT television.

All inside a very thick white border.

It’s hideous and yet somehow gorgeous.

And … you will pay for the privilege of owning his hunk of befuddling cardboard.

Value: $75-85

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1989 Bowman Bo Jackson (#126)

Was there anybody in baseball hotter than Bo Jackson in the late 1980s?

On the field … maybe.

In our imaginations and wax packs?

Hardly anyone could touch the two-sport star and Heisman Trophy winner.

While Bo’s NFL career was cut way short by the same hip injury that also curtailed his baseball development and left him shy of the legendary numbers we all thought he might put up, his personal legend just won’t fade.

Value: $45-65

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1989 Bowman Gary Sheffield Rookie Card (#142)

Gary Sheffield first came into public view in the late 1980s as the wunderkind nephew of Dwight Gooden, who was going to be the next great Willie May/Mickey Mantle/Ozzie Smith/Rickey Henderson hybrid.

A few tepid (generous) seasons for the Milwaukee Brewers and some personality/behavioral red flags later, though, and Sheffield was a bust.

Then he went to the San Diego Padres, and things started to look up.

Then he became a full-fledged superstar with the Florida Marlins and the Los Angeles Dodgers before late-career dalliances with the New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers were sullied by whispers about steroids.

No matter what you think of him personally, though, dude was super talented and wound up with 509 home runs among his nearly 2700 career hits.

Throw in 250+ stolen bases, and it’s not hard to see why Sheffield’s Bowman rookie fetches decent prices even if his road to the Hall of Fame seems impassable at this point.

Value: $50-60

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1989 Bowman Nolan Ryan (#225)

Nolan Ryan did a whole lot more on Major League mounds than just pound Robin Ventura’s face, of course.

But you know all about his 50,000 strikeouts, 123 no-hitters, and 300-mile-an-hour fastball, so I won’t belabor those points.

Just suffice it to say that Ryan is pretty much a lock to appear in the “most valuable” list for any set he graces.

Value: $45-50

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1989 Bowman Rickey Henderson (#181)

Henderson was gone from the Bronx by the time this card was issued, back with the Oakland A’s where it all started courtesy of a June 21 trade (Bowman was officially released on July 6).

But Topps and Bowman gave collectors and Yankees fans one last shot of Rickey in Pinstripes, the uniform he wore when he cemented his status as an all-timer — the greatest leadoff man and hot dog in baseball history.

Pretty much any Henderson card will end up on lists like this one, and the 1989 Bowman looks good in the process.

Value: $20-30

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1989 Bowman Don Mattingly (#176)

Even though Don Mattingly’s performance was sliding as the 1980s waned, due to a bad back that would eventually end his career, none of us could let go.

This was Donnie Baseball, the unquestioned superstar of our era, and the man who completely reshaped the hobby with his 1984 Donruss rookie card.

He’d come back.

He’d be better than ever.

He’d lead the Yankees to a championship.

He was a surefire Hall of Famer.

He wasn’t .

But Mattingly’s cards will never die, and his 1989 Bowman is still a popular buy.

Value: $30-40

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1989 Bowman Cal Ripken (#9)

Ripken wasn’t the force he had been early in the decade as the 80s turned to the 90s, but he still had plenty of rabid fans throughout the game.

Of course, he rocketed back into the hobby elite in the new decade, winning an MVP award in 1991 and surpassing Lou Gehrig on the Iron Man list in 1995.

All of Iron Cal’s cards are collector favorites these days, and this one is no exception.

Value: $20-30

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1989 Bowman John Smoltz (#266)

John Smoltz was not yet a household name in 1989, and his Atlanta Braves were going nowhere fast.

Except they were, sort of.

I mean, even then, folks thought Smoltz had great potential, and it would only be a couple of years before the Braves staged one of the most dramatic Octobers in recent(ish) memory before bowing to the Minnesota Twins in the 1991 World Series.

By then, Smoltz was starting to hit his stride and would of course go on to craft a Hall of Fame career as a starter and reliever.

Value: $25-45

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1989 Bowman Edgar Martinez (#216)

Martinez took a slow-burn approach to building his Hall of Fame career, and his cards followed suit in building a hobby following.

These days, early Edgar cards have plenty of takers, and they don’t come too much earlier than this one.

Value: $20-30

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1989 Bowman Barry Bonds (#426)

Everybody hates Barry Bonds because he’s surly, maybe/probably took steroids or other PDEs, broke records that rightfully belong to Hank Aaron and Roger Maris or Babe Ruth (or Mark McGwire, but he can’t have it either).

Oh, and Bonds did stuff in the 2000s that no one has ever done before and may never do again.

Even with all the vitriol surrounding him, it’s hard for Bonds to totally escape the accoutrements that come with being maybe the best hitter ever.

Like, for example, a middling-high price tag for an oversize card — that also no one likes — that isn’t his rookie card and is not from his most monstrous seasons.

Value: $15-25

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1989 Bowman Roger Clemens (#26)

Roger Clemens is sort of like the son of Nolan Ryan and Barry Bonds — totally dominant on the mound to an extent we rarely if ever see, but a pariah because of PED talk and general personality funkiness.

In 1989, Clemens was coming off his first non-Cy Young season since 1985, and it would take another year before he was a monster again.

Even so, he was super popular in the hobby as baseball’s premier power pitcher, and enough luster remains that his ’89 Bowman can still command some attention.

Value: $15-25

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1989 Bowman Roberto Alomar (#458)

We all thought both Sandy Alomar, Jr., and Roberto Alomar had a chance to be pretty special players.

You know, based on scouting reports and bloodlines.

Sandy eventually won the 1990 AL Rookie of the Year award for the Cleveland Indians, but it was Robbie who had the staying power to craft a Hall of Fame career.

Along the way, he also pulled in a couple of World Series rings with the Toronto Blue Jays and was a cog in some pretty darn good Indians and Baltimore Orioles teams.

Alomar’s 1989 Bowman card, a second-year offering, still has its fans.

Value: $10-20

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1989 Bowman Robin Ventura Rookie Card (#65)

Consider this one a bonus, as Ventura appeared in the initial version of this list before the pandemic boom changed the pecking order for so many card sets.

So, courtesy of the Wax Pack Nostalgia Machine …

Robin Ventura was once an Olympian, and he once got the doo-doo beat out of him by Nolan Ryan for charging the mound on the old man.

But Ventura also sort of quietly put together a really good career as a first and third baseman for the Chicago White Sox and New York Mets (along with a couple of others) that leaves him sort of in the Cooperstown parking lot.

Value: $10-20

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